A Beautiful Bijou Home Tour

Wowser. That’s how I began my reply to Charlotte and Miranda when this beauty of a home tour dropped in my inbox from Event Stylist Louise Wilson-Ward. I’ll hand straight over to Louise to tell you all about her compact, chic and feminine pad. It’ll have you swooning folks. Do drop Louise a comment or two to share your appreciation of the space!

The Studio was originally built as a Victorian open barn and served Almonry Barn as an additional covered area for hay and cattle. Around 18 years ago it was converted into an artists studio (hence the name, open plan and airy feel) alongside Almonry Barn which was used as a gallery and restaurant. There’s also a third barn on site, a converted cattle shed where my mum lives. We purchased the barns three years ago, by which point they had all been left and seriously neglected for 12 years.

As well as being an artist’s studio, it’s previous life was also an attempted tea room so by the time we moved in the studio was full of dodgy terracotta tiles, navy blue and mustard walls and ceilings, a hideous kitchen made of breeze blocks and some other seriously out dated wiring and plumbing.

Once we had completed converting the main barn into a wedding venue, we set about pretty much gutting the studio and installing everything from scratch. Luckily we have a fantastic team of builders and everything was completed within six weeks and we’ve now been living here for one and a half years. The only thing we kept was the lovely open plan aspect and exposed stone walls. It was all done on a relatively small budget so I undertook the entire painting myself (four weeks and 80 litres of white paint later!). I did slightly drive the builders mad following them around with my paint brush!

My background is actually interior design so I knew exactly what I wanted. Luckily as well as vision (which was definitely required) and an eye for a bargain, I have a very sympathetic fiancé who trusts me to get on with things. I have made Paul a promise that our next place won’t be so white though!

As the studio is open plan, I felt it really didn’t lend itself to being full to the brim of stuff. Everything is on show here and due to the fact I actually have very few usable walls, and practically no built in storage, I needed to keep this in mind especially throughout the final styling.
Of course not everything in our house can be white (apparently!), so the perfect storage and design solution was chests……lots of chests! Blanket boxes, shoe trunks, fruit boxes, suitcases, storage poufs……..you name it we have one! They’re absolutely perfect for hiding things such as DVDs, books, paperwork etc….the other ultimate plus is they pretty much all double up as tables. A perfect area for displaying more white goodies! They’ve all been sourced relatively cheaply, and if they were a bit grungy it was nothing a lick of white or grey paint didn’t fix!

{The Particulars}

I would say that 90% of the furniture in the house is actually up cycled. One of my all time favourite pieces is our coffee table. It was actually an old barn door that we found, and after having a base made, the whole thing cost £40. It’s perfect for filling up the space as well as being totally unique.
The other thing I’m a big fan of is grouping items. I’m currently going through a big bell jar, cut glass and decanter phase. Not the easiest when it comes to cleaning, but they definitely carry more of an impact when sitting together and allow a hint of a theme to continue throughout the house.

I absolutely LOVE this! I’m a white addict myself but this is really airy and feminine. Beautiful.
Can I ask how the white floors were done? We’re considering white floorboards but I’m unsure of how to achieve that look and more importantly, keep them looking clean so I’d be interested to know the finish/how they were sealed! Thank you

Hi Lauren, thank you for the lovely comment. The white flooring is actually a white wood laminate from B&Q. It already comes in a white wash effect and is super easy to clean. It was relatively inexpensive and looks very genuine. The only thing is I would advise getting a carpenter to lay it as it can chip easily, and it looks more expensive/quality if it’s been laid properly x

Such a beautiful space – so calming and soothing. I need that supersized mirror in my life and I’m now yearning to include some pretty floral wallpaper in my house renovation. Now where can I add that then…

Thanks for your reply Louise – I will have a search on there I think. I love owls, they and otters (and dogs) are my favourite critters and I love the illustration style of that cushion. A lot of owl designs are too cartoon-y but this one is lovely, and has a hint of Animals of Farthing Wood about it!

I’ve read the whole feature now and looked through all the photos – its so so pretty and all of your decor is so nicely put together. I really like the pink and white jug & bowl – that looks like it was a bit of a find! x

Hi Kitty, I’ve found the seller on Etsy. They’re called Thistle & Fox. I loved Animals of Farthing Wood!!! As a stroke of luck the wash bowl and jug was actually my great grandmothers. We obviously had the same taste! x

Hi Ali, I used Dulux matt emulsion pure brilliant white. I used pure brilliant white everywhere (even on some of the furniture) as I thought this was the key to creating that real ‘white’ effect throughout (also makes life easier when touching up any marks). The floors are a white wood laminate from B&Q. Easy to clean, no chipping and looks almost as good as painted real wood x

Beautiful home, so pretty and love the mix of soft and feminine with industrial style. But then I didn’t expect anything less from the owner and stylist of the most beautiful wedding venue ever. I not only had the privilege of getting married here surrounded by all the pretty, but also having Naomi capture my day. Now if only I could get you to come and work your magic on my home x

Totally beautiful! Am blown away! I love the basket you have the logs in. I would love to know where you got that from if you have chance please. Everything has been so well thought out. Styling is everything for finishing off a space. Xx